Time controlled mechanism for valves or the like



Jan. 28, 1936. R. w. JOHNSON TIME CONTROLLED MECHANISM FOR VALVES OR THE LIKE Filed April 11, 1952 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR.

ATTORNEY? Jan. 28, 1936. R w. JQHNSON 2,028,933-

TIME CONTROLLED MECHANISM FOR VALVES OR THE LIKE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed April 11, 1932 INVENTOR.

ATTORNEY} y ull,

Patented Jan. 28, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE THEE CONTROLLED VALVES OR MECHANISM FOR THE LIKE Roy W. Johnson, Milwaukee, Wis. Application April 11, 1932, Serial No. 604,555 1 Claim. (Cl. 161-7) narily available.

Another object of the invention is to provide a mechanism of this character which is readily a part 01' this specification, and in which:

Figure 1 is a view in front elevation showing Figure 3 is a view in rear elevation of the device, with the rear plate of the casing removed; and

Figure 4 is a sectionalview showing the important features of the time controlled mechanism.

Referring to the drawings, the control means whose action is to be regulated, is illustrated as a valve designated generally at V. The valve V is of conventional construction and has the usual casing I and valve 2, the valve being biased to closed position by coil spring 3. The valve is provided with a valve stem 4 which passes up through a conventional stufling box 5 and into a casing 6 which may be mounted on the stuffing box. The casing 05 has a removable rear wall 1 that is employed to house a time controlled mechanism and the setting mechanism. The lower portion of the casing 6 is provided with a bracket structure 8 on which .the elements of the setting mechanism designated generally at S are mounted. The setting mechanism includes a setting shaft 9 rotatably supported in a bearing provided therefor in the bracket 8 and adjusted to an on and off position by a knob Hi fastened provided with a pointer II which coacts with on and off indicia to indicate the position of the valve. The inner end of the shaft 5 has a setting lever 55. This setting lever is fulcrumed 10 of a link iii, the other end of which link is pivotally connected as at I 9 to the valve stem i.

When the knob l 0 is turned to rotate the pointer it over to the on position, the lever 55 is i 5 of the lever .l5'snaps into engagement with the latching lug 20 of a latch 21.

trip arm 24 WhlCh is interconnected with the latch 2| so as to constrain the latch 2| to pardesignated generally at T.

As illustrated, this time controlled mechanism includes a pair of frame plates 30 and 3| suitably interconnected with each other.

tening devices to the margin of the opening On the shaft 36 a sleeve 40 is fitted and has a portion 40 to which the inner end of the clock spring 4| is connected, the spring being coiled in the usual fashion about 7 through and is secured in a diametrical opening f provided in the shaft l5 and projects beyond the periphery of the shaft. One end of pin d? is designed and positioned to coact with a projection 48 formed rigid with or rigidly connected to the wheel M and extending longitudinally therefrom. With this arrangement it will be seen that when the shaft 36.is turned in one direction the pin ll will engage the projection 68, if the clock needs winding, and turn the ratchet wheel Mi, thereby also turning the sleeve 60 and winding up the spring ti l. The gear wheel 62 remains stationary since the teeth of the ratchet wheel 44 click under and past its pawls 45 and inasmuch as this slight drag is not sufficient to overcome the action of the reduction gear train of which the gear 52 is .an element. This reduction gear train is of conventional construction and is indicated generally at 50 and has the conventional escapement 5i associated therewith.

A frictional or slip connection is provided between the sleeve lfl and the shaft 36. In the construction shown this frictional connection consists of a friction washer interposed between the outer face of the ratchet wheel A l and the pin iii and a coil spring 56 interposed between the other end of the Sleeve 60 and a washer 51 which is backed up by an integral flange 58 formed on the shaft 36. The spring 56 is under sufficient compression to set up such frictional engagement between the parts as to cause the clock, when it is running, to rotate the shaft 36, with sufficient power to enable it to perform its function of tripping the latching mechanism at the proper time as will be described more fully hereafter. The motion is properly timed since, when the clock is running, the spring M turns the sleeve till in such direction that the teeth of the ratchet wheel as act through the pawls 55 to turn the gear wheel 62 which is under the control of the gear train and the escapement regulating the speed of the same. This frictional connection does, however, provide for the slippage desirable when the valve ismanually opened before the expiration of the time previously selected and when, in order to efiect this operation, the knob 3? is utilized to turn the pointenback to its zero position. The shaft 36 may be turned back to release or zero position without unwinding the main spring or straining any part of the mechanism.

The rearward end of the shaft 36 projects beyond the to a cam 60. The cam is designed and position'ed to coact at the expiration of any selected time with the latch trip 24 and in so'doing swings this trip 248 in a counter-clockwise direction, as viewed in Figure 3, thereby elevating the latch arm frame plate 30 and has secured there 2i and disengaging its latching lug it from the setting lever it. When the setting lever i5 is released the spring which biases the valve to closed position acts and the valve is closed.

In order to give the clock work an initial kick to insure starting of the same when the device is set, a sleeve in is rotatably mounted on the pivot pin 22 (see Figure 2) and adjacent one end carries a rather long arm H to the outer end of which a spring finger or brush i2 is secured. The inturned end 12 of this brush engages the periph= cry of the balance wheel. The sleeve 10 also has a downwardly extending arm l3 fixed thereto, the extremity M of the arm l3 being bent at right angles to the main portion of the arm, as will be understood from portion i i of the arm l3 lies in the path of movement of the crank l2 so that when'the device is set the crank, in moving to its set position, strikes the portion it and rotates it and its arm 13, thereby causing partial rotation of sleeve 10 and downward swinging of arm ll with the result that the end T12 of the finger or brush i2 gives an initial kick or starting impetus to the balance wheel. When the device automatically trips at the end of the selected time period, the starting arrangement is returned to its initial position by means of a coil spring 115 having one end engaged with the arm 13 and the other end engaged with the frame plate 30.

In operation, when the valve is to be turned on, the knob 3'! is rotated until the pointer 38 comes opposite the graduation indicating the desired time interval. The setting knob i0 is then turned to the on position. This causes the valve to be opened and to be latched in open posi-' tion due to the engagement of the latch 2l with the setting lever l5. At the expiration of the selected time period, the cam 60 wipes against the trip lever 2 to disengage the latch of the setting lever and permit the valve to close.

While I have shown and described one embodiment of the present invention it is to be understood that the construction shown has been selected merely for the purposes of illustration and that various changes in the size, shape and arrangment of the parts may be made without de= parting from the spirit of the invention or'the scope of the subjoined claim.

The invention claimed is:

Time controlled mechanism comprising a clockwork, a manually rotatable shaft, a friction coupling between the shaft and the clockwork where-= by the shaft is driven from the clockwork, a trip carried by the adjacent the clockwork and in cooperative relation to the trip, a single setting lever having one end pivotally supported and having its other end Figures 2 and 3. This shaft, a latch pivotally mounted cooperable with the latch, the intermediate por- 'RoY w. JOHNSON. 

